Sunlight Is the Best Disinfectant: Empowering Citizens and Providing Accountability [Print This Page]
- Time: 9:00-10:15 a.m.
- Date: Thursday, Sept. 11
- Place: Tucker Forum, 85 Gannett Hall
|
Accountability is the responsibility of the citizen as well as the role of the press. Modern technology enables the potential for greater scrutiny of the government than ever before, but is it living up to its promise? How can citizens work with the news media to provide greater accountability, and what new tools are emerging? This session will explore these and related questions.
|
|
Moderator: Charles N. Davis
Associate Professor
Missouri School of Journalism
Charles Davis is an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and the executive director for the National Freedom of Information Coalition, headquartered at the School. Davis has been a primary investigator for a research grant from the James S. and John L. Knight Foundation for NFOIC and another from the Rockefeller Family Fund for the study of homeland security and freedom of information issues. He was a co-investigator for an award from the U.S. Department of State for a curriculum reform project for Moscow State University in Russia. Davis' scholarly research focuses on access to governmental information and new media law, including jurisdictional issues, intellectual property and online libel. He has earned a Sunshine Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for his work in furthering freedom of information and the University of Missouri-Columbia Provost's Award for Outstanding Junior Faculty Teaching, as well as the Faculty-Alumni Award.
Discussion Leaders:
|
|
Laura Bryant
Ward IV Council Member
Creve Coeur (Mo.) City Council
Laura Bryant, BJ '80, is public relations director for a St. Louis-based corporation and has served on the Creve Coeur (Mo.) City Council since 2001. Bryant first became involved in local government when she joined a neighborhood coalition in 1996 and helped organize a lawsuit to halt a massive office-and-apartment development project. As a result of the citizen legal action, the city created a 26-acre municipal park on part of the disputed site, and new policies to inform residents about potential changes in land use were enacted. Bryant continues to focus on planning and zoning issues related to the city's future development. She received the 2006 Legislator of the Year award from the Creve Coeur-Olivette Chamber of Commerce for her recent work against eminent domain abuse in her community.
|
|
Ted Farnen
Chief of Staff
Missouri State Senator Chuck Graham
Ted Farnen, BJ '87, is the chief of staff for Missouri State Senator Chuck Graham (D-Columbia). He is the only known person working in the Missouri Capitol to have been an intern, journalist, legislative staffer, elected official and lobbyist. After working as a reporter and for the Missouri Senate Communications Office, Farnen was elected in 1994 to the first of his four terms as state representative from Missouri's 21st House District. During his tenure Farnen was the primary sponsor of numerous bills dealing with education, elections and local government, and he was also the main author of two constitutional amendments that were approved by the people of Missouri. In 2002, Farnen received the Henry Geyer Award from the Mizzou Alumni Association, the highest honor the association presents to elected officials. After his tenure in the House, Farnen served as a lobbyist and political director for the Missouri Laborers Union.
|
|
Martin Frost
Attorney
Polsinelli, Shalton, Flanigan and Suelthaus
Former Congressman Martin Frost, BJ '64, is an attorney in the Washington, D.C., office of the Missouri law firm Polsinelli, Shalton, Flanigan and Suelthaus. He has held a number of leadership positions for the Democratic Party and is considered one of the party's top strategists. Frost appears regularly on Fox News as a political commentator and writes a column for the Politico Web site. From 1979-2005, he served as a member of Congress representing the Dallas-Fort Worth area. During his distinguished career, Frost was Chair of the Caucus, the third-highest elected leadership position for Democrats, served two terms as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and was the senior Democrat on the powerful Rules Committee. He was a fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University for the fall 2005 semester and was named a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in January 2006. Frost was named president of the voter turnout organization America Votes in June of 2007.
|
|
Adrian Holovaty
Journalist/Founder
EveryBlock
Adrian Holovaty, BJ '01, a journalist and computer programmer, founded EveryBlock, a new way to keep track of what's happening in citizens' blocks, neighborhoods and cities. Now available for three cities - Chicago, New York and San Francisco - this local-news Web site is funded by a grant from the Knight Foundation. Holovaty has built Web applications for washingtonpost.com, Lawrence.com and LJWorld.com and is probably the best-known industry advocate for the burgeoning discipline of "journalism via computer programming." Holovaty's 2005 project, chicagocrime.org, was developed by reverse-engineering Google's map technology. He also co-created Django, an open-source development framework that makes it fast and easy for programmers to build database-driven Web sites. Holovaty co-wrote the Django Book, published in late 2007.
|
About the Futures Forum
Top journalists, advertisers and thought leaders will lead numerous interactive sessions during the Sept. 11 Futures Forum, a day of cutting-edge discussions about the next century of journalism. Ethics, convergence and politics are just a few of the many hot topics that will be explored in this diverse program dedicated to challenging industry thinking and visualizing possibilities for the future. Sessions will be 75 minutes long and held concurrently with others on the schedule. Full schedules will be available during on-site check in during the Sept. 10-12 celebration.
|
|
|
|
